


The Light Inside

by The_Fiercest_Vulpine



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Bruce is nice, Cute, Innocent, M/M, NOT ship related, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 21:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13443312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Fiercest_Vulpine/pseuds/The_Fiercest_Vulpine
Summary: Just something cute and simple ^^





	The Light Inside

He was only ten.  
He'd only been doing this for a couple of weeks, and he was already so good at it.  
Richard John Grayson, orphaned only months ago.  
The lonely, battered child whose hero had nearly come too late, was steadily showing the world that he couldn't be held down.  
He had every reason in the world to be miserable, and what did he do?  
He smiled.  
He laughed, he played, he climbed the furniture, cracked jokes and invented games.  
In many ways, he reminded Alfred and Bruce of a dolphin, leaping about with beams of sunshine in his light walnut eyes.  
He wasn't happy all the time, of course.  
There were still moments of deep, contemplative sadness, agonizingly fresh memories of the horror he'd witness during his last day as a circus performer, and the nightmares.  
But through it all, he was resilient and colorful, like a rainbow that couldn't be washed away even when the sun set.  
Despite his pain, the joy he had in his heart spread like a wildfire, bringing joy even to the somber men who'd taken him in.  
Even to the Batman.

It was calm this night in Gotham, and young Robin was forever beside his commander and father figure.  
They stood on a rooftop, scouting out the streets below in the late hour.  
Though he hadn't been doing it long, Robin was adjusting to the wonky sleep schedule.  
Batman only let him come with him for a few hours at a time, as he was still nervous to have a child with him in such dangerous situations.  
He looked in the mirror every day and asked himself if he was doing something awful, allowing a ten-year-old boy be exposed to so many horrible things.  
Violence, pain, death.  
But when he looked at his ward and saw the gumption in his soul, when he saw the bright smile on his face, he knew he was capable of anything, and would endure.  
And if he got hurt, Batman would be there for him.  
So would Bruce.  
So for now, as they both adjusted, Robin would stay beside him.  
Little did they both know, this would be the beginning of heroism that lasts a lifetime.

Robin was shockingly quick and witty even when tired, Batman found.  
Curious in nature and ever observant, in spite of all the talking.  
But with there having been so little action, Robin was growing impatient.  
He'd already helped apprehend a couple robbers and one man accused of assaulting a police officer by this point in his training, but he wanted more.  
He wanted to do more, be more, be useful.  
Gotham was his home now, and he wanted to contribute to it and make Batman proud.

"I know there being so few crooks out is a good thing, but it's still kind of boring," his higher, more boyish voice uttered.

Batman remained focused and unphased.

"It is a good thing."

Robin pulled out one of his gadgets, a birdarang, and lightly touched at the tip of one of its sharp wings.  
Weird as it sounded, he was aching to try his hand at a target.  
New as he was, the child had great aim -- though one would hope so, considering how much he practiced and how adamantly.  
Since he was so new, in order to keep from really harming someone, Robin played it safe by throwing his weapons at his opponent's ankles.  
Batman appreciated this, but would soon enforce that Robin start taking risks.

"I still can't get over how sharp these are."

"Hm.  
Just don't poke your eye out."

Robin shot him a rather tired look.

"Seriously?" he asked flatly.

Batman's lack of response reminded him that he was always serious.  
Even when he was ignored, Robin did not take it to heart, and went about his business.

"If you have to remind me not to poke my own eye out, then isn't it kind of pointless to take me along on missions?"

"Are you saying you want to go home?"

"No!" he answered urgently.

The last thing he wanted to do was go home!  
Batman hadn't even so much as looked at him, and it honestly took everything he had not to smile.  
Robin's enthusiasm and determination was inspiring, if not also troublesome.  
Part of why he'd adopted Dick was to help prevent him from suffering the same vengeance-filled childhood he lived.  
Day in and day out, he prayed he wouldn't fail his son.  
So far the boy seemed to understand the motto of "justice, not vengeance," but Batman refused to take credit for it.  
To his mind, that was just Robin being his wholesome, innocent self.  
Innocence was something that was unnervingly easy to take away, and he hoped nothing would take Robin's.

"You're not gonna take me home already, are you?"

This time, Batman actually glanced at him.

"Relax, you're not going home yet."

Robin smiled, pleased.

"Awesome."

"...You still have about an hour before that."

His shoulders slumped, along with his expression.

"Aw man..."

Another minute of silence passed before Robin tucked his birdarang away.  
He looked right, looked left, and then saw a little movement, pointing to it.

"Oh!  
Is something going on down there?"

Batman looked over calmly, and all too suddenly shot down Robin's excitement.

"Just a manager locking up the store."

"UGGGH--"

"Shh."

Robin looked up at him studiously, lowering his voice to a concerned whisper.

"What...?"

"What."

"Why'd you shush me?"

"Because I wanted you to be quiet."

And again, discouragement.  
To an outsider it would've been humorous, how they played off each other.  
Robin's ever-changing faces, emotions and trains of thought never ceased to amaze him, yet thankfully weren't enough to distract him, either.  
Precisely so, Robin thought he was being hushed because Batman had seen something, but obviously that wasn't it.  
So, being the little smart aleck that he was, Robin played along.  
Instead of talking quietly, he whispered in the lowest possible register he could.  
Surely Batman couldn't hear him.

"Is this quiet enough...?"

Batman said nothing.  
Heh.  
Robin chuckled to himself, before Batman spoke up and startled him.

"A little too quiet.  
That works for now, but try not to be so demure during a fight.  
It wouldn't be very threatening."

Aaand another face of discouragement.  
Robin folded his arms and looked out and around again, carefully scanning the streets.  
This time, he brought his tone back to normal.

"You know what would be cool?  
If your little bat ears could pick up sounds, like tiny ones super far away.  
You know, like real bat ears.  
Hey, what's demure mean?"

"That word hasn't come up in your vocabulary yet?"

"No," he answered happily.

"It means 'subtle.' "

"Oh.  
Hey, you didn't answer me about the ears."

So demanding sometimes, but Batman didn't mind.

"It's...definitely interesting, Robin."

The boy's face lit up, feeling proud of himself for having come up with such a neat idea.

"So you might do that?"

For once, Batman chose not to burst Robin's bubble.

"...I'll think about it."

"Hehehe...!"

Robin looked away from him excitedly, eager to see this happen.  
Except it wasn't going to happen, because no.  
Moments later, the elder of the two heard an overly familiar onset of giggles beside him.  
Looking down, he saw Robin, giggling, to himself.  
Surprisingly, he was curious.

"What's funny?"

"Hmhmhm!  
You know how I whispered super quietly earlier?"

Batman nodded once.  
Robin was still a giggly mess, no matter how hard he tried to keep it together.

"Well -- I -- KGHM -- hmhmhmhm!  
HMHMhmhmh!"

Batman just stared at him with an unchanging, half-engaged expression.  
Waiting.

"I thought about -- mhmhm -- trying to fight bad guys while talking like that."

Batman raised a brow, to which Robin pulled out his birdarang again and acted out what he imagined, speaking in that ungodly soft whisper again, pretending like he was about to throw his weapon at somebody.  
All the while, he grinned like the Cheshire cat.

"You're goin' to jail, punk...!"

Following that, Robin burst into more giggles upon hearing himself out loud, doing everything he could not to laugh loudly.  
Oh God, this child.  
He was the only person in the world whose glee could penetrate the hard armor around Batman's heart.  
He may not have laughed, and he may not have acknowledged Robin's remark (as shown by him looking away), but the faintest of smiles sprawled across his stoic portrait.  
Robin didn't see it, as he was too busy trying not to explode, but Batman was just happy to hear him be joyful.  
Even when it was sometimes annoying, it was better than him loping about, sad and uninterested in anything.  
Let that imagination soar to the stars, he thought.  
Meanwhile, once Robin got a hold of himself and looked up at his mentor, beaming, the beams faded out a little when he couldn't see the smile, or any reaction whatsoever.

"Can't Batman have just a little fun?" he asked sweetly.

"Preferably not."

"Is that like an image thing or something?"

"We've discussed this."

Robin paced off behind him, arms flopping down like dead weight.  
At one point he stopped to lean on Batman, who didn't budge or react to the contact.

"Iiii knooow, I know.  
But, I don't think anyone would judge the Batman for smiling, would they?  
Or would they...  
I guess it does kinda make the doom-and-gloom thing pointless, but I've seen you smile before.  
It doesn't look that bad."

Nice.  
The Dark Knight's expression only grew more callous.

"As Batman, I mean.  
Hm...  
OH!  
I gotta tell you something.  
I think I meant to the other day, but then I forgot.  
Like you were right there and I was about to say it, but then something happened and I forgot all about it.  
Um..."

He paused to think about that, now suddenly wondering what it was that had distracted him.  
In his brief quietness, a sudden need to yawn fell over him.  
He turned away in the hopes that Batman wouldn't see and assume he was tired, but of course Batman saw.  
The elder pretended not to, naturally, but he saw it; and just when he was wondering how someone could get so little sleep and be so spontaneous.

"Robin."

"Huh?"

"I believe you were about to tell me something."

"Oh yeah!  
So I was walking along -- er...somewhere, ehm, and I found this weird looking rock, so I picked it up and showed it to -- ...someone...  
AND they said it might be a fossil.  
Isn't that cool?"

"A fossil...?  
What kind of fossil."

Robin shrugged.

"Pft, I don't know, I don't know anything about fossils."

"You should look into it.  
Maybe it would come in handy someday."

Robin didn't appear to take him seriously.

"What, fossil knowledge?" he scoffed.  
"How would that help me fight crime?"

"One of my enemies controls plants.  
Ergo, the more I know about plants, the better equipped I am to understand her method of fighting, and where it comes from.  
Better yet, if she uses something poisonous, I know how to reverse the effects."

When Robin didn't answer him with something witty or offhanded, Batman looked down at him.  
He found the child just staring up at him blankly before turning away and shaking his head in a tiny motion, perplexed.

"That is so weird...  
So like, I could learn about dust mites, and you're saying that could be helpful?"

Batman looked away again.

"Sure."

"What about water?"

"Yes."

"Hm..."

And now came the part where Robin would think of whatever bizarre thing his endlessly-expanding mind could conjure up.  
Batman expected no different.

"What about, hamburger buns?" he giggled slightly.

"If you feel so inclined."

"Dust mites?  
What about fashion.  
HAH or goose feet.  
Hahahah!  
Would studying goose feet be useful?"

"...Sure."

Robin was amused.

"Hah...  
can you imagine a bad guy who uses goose feathers as weapons somehow?  
Like his only fighting style was to stuff pillows--"

Batman's voice gritted out suddenly and with strength, startling Robin.

"GET DOWN."

Without a sound or a moment's hesitation, the sidekick did as he was told and dropped straight down, belly to the rooftop, just propped on his fingers and toes and ready to spring up or roll away when need be.  
But when he looked around for danger, he saw not.  
So he kept looking for it, and looked some more, then up at Batman and whispered.

"What...???"

The man said nothing.  
Not a word, but instead, he grinned.  
A tiny, amused, handsome grin.  
Robin frowned and sprang up like a daisy, pointing accusingly.

"Heeey!  
I thought you said Batman couldn't have fun!"

He looked away happily, still just faintly smiling while observing the city.

"I don't believe that's what I said, actually.  
I said 'preferably not.'  
That is an example of careful observation you'll need to start practicing.  
Little clues can paint the bigger picture for you, and eliminate the element of surprise."

Blah blah blah, Robin wanted to say, but he already knew enough to know that he was right.  
This time he had no remark to make, so instead he gazed off in thought.  
Subtleties like that were really challenging to catch, which was frustrating for Robin, but he knew what his teacher was trying to tell him.  
He had to focus, even when he was wound up, he couldn't let his guard down for even a second.  
He was too young to understand the consequences of not obeying that logic, but he trusted Batman, who did understand.  
He would just have to keep trying.  
After a minute, he looked back up and was, once again, startled when he saw Batman staring back down at him.  
For a moment they exchanged nothing but pure silence.  
The Big Bat's expression may not have changed, but deep in his head he the wheels were constantly turning as he studied his company.

"What?"

Batman said nothing.  
Robin pressed on.

"What??  
Why are you staring at me?  
You're making me nervous."

"Good," he answered contently.

A large, gloved hand came down to the front of Robin's hair, two clawed fingers tenderly taking a lock of soft black hair.

"It occurs to me that you might be overdue for a haircut."

Robin gently waved Batman's hand away before pushing his floppy bangs down closer to his head.  
He suddenly became rather shy.

"I think it looks cool..."

"That makes one of us."

Robin couldn't help but grin a little, bringing his hand up off his head.

"Maybe I should grow it out to my shoulders."

"I think not."

"Why not?  
It's my hair."

"Because you're ten, and I said no."

"Pft.  
I'd look like a rock star."

"Exactly," Batman retorted flatly.

Robin was not to be deterred.

"I could like, learn to fight with a guitar, hahah!  
Would have to carry like fifty guitars because whenever I hit someone with them, they would get smashed and explode everywhere like in AFV!  
And then just head bang every time I hit somebody, like a victory head bang!"

Laughing, Robin bobbed his head back and forth in a gentle head-banging motion, flipping his floppy hair around while pretending to play a guitar, but was quickly stopped by his predecessor placing a hand on the top of his head.

"Don't hurt yourself."

Once more, all the boy could do was giggle.  
Truth be told, in his moment of staring at Robin, Batman wasn't thinking about his hair for more than a second.  
Rather, he was thinking about how proud he was of him.  
He loved him more every minute, and it was that love that drove him to do everything he could to give him a better life.  
He couldn't change his past, but he could make his present worth while, and hopefully set a path for the daunting future.  
Robin was oblivious to the thoughts that swamped his adopted father's mind day in and day out, and Batman wanted it that way.  
He preferred to listen to him drone on with his stories, making himself laugh and fighting the imminent tiredness that was creeping in.  
With that in mind, he decided it would be best to go looking for a little action so that when he made Robin retire for the night, he'd have something to feel a little better about.

"Come on, we'll head off a few blocks and look around for a while.  
Clearly nothing is coming to us."

"Awesome!  
I'm with you, big guy!"

As Batman stepped up over the edge of the building and looked down, Robin quickly drew a grappling hook and pinned it, then began to make his descent to the ground.  
His excited hoots of anticipation were music to Batman's ears, and he too, soon followed his ward into the streets below.


End file.
